“Gravity” has earned rapturous reviews since premiering at the Venice Film Festival last month, but footage from the science fiction thriller has been largely restricted to an extended sequence of an outer space disaster.

A new trailer for Alfonso Cuaron‘s latest offers more back-story — we learn, for example, that Sandra Bullock‘s stranded astronaut has a daughter back on Earth she’s desperate to see again. There are also plenty of thrills and explosions for the action crowd, as space debris pummels a shuttle and a fire engulfs a ship.

Co-starring George Clooney, the film centers on an astronaut who gets untethered in space, sending her careening through zero gravity. If the early notices are to be believed, it’s the rare film that combines a crackling script, intelligent direction and dazzling visual effects.

Oliver Lyttelton wrote in the Playlist that “almost every decision is inspired” and no less a critic than James Cameronraved that it was “the best space film ever done.” Early word is that Cuaron, who has not had a movie since 2006’s “Children of Men,” is in the running for an Oscar nomination along with the cast and technical team.

“Gravity” opens October 4, 2014.

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